Tag: mac glamour daze collection

A Grab Bag of Holiday Polish

MAC Glamour Daze Nail Lacquers ($17.50 for 0.34 fl. oz.) include four shades: Endless Night (pale grey pink with iridescent pearl), Everything That Glitters (black with super multidimensional glitter), Girl Trouble (super glitter pink), and In the Limelight (mid-tone creamy mint). Because of the white-colored labeling (instead of black), MAC has tacked on $1.50 to the cost of each polish.

Endless Night is a cool-toned, light-medium beige with iridescent pink micro-shimmer. It’s not quite opaque after two coats. The consistently was a little watery. MAC Quiet Time is darker, no shimmer. Essie Topless & Barefoot is just a smidgen lighter, has no shimmer, and leans slightly pink. Cult Nails Cruisin’ Nude would be similar, though it’s a bit darker–it has the same pink shimmer.

Everything That Glitters is a dark black with multi-colored micro-glitter–lots of blue, pink, and green predominantly. It’s opaque after two coats, and the glitter particles disperse evenly. It is very similar to Butter London The Black Knight from what I can tell.

Girl Trouble is a metallic, cool-toned pink with silver micro-glitter. It is part of the permanent range. The consistency was a little watery. It was mostly opaque after two coats, and it dried down faster than the other three shades. China Glaze Encouragement is similar in color but not metallic. NARS Night Rider is darker.

In the Limelight is a cool-toned, mint green with a cream finish. This was very, very streaky. After I applied one coat, I attempted to apply a second coat, and it was a big mess. The only way I could get it to look half-decent was to glob on a second coat and maneuver my hands by waving them around to get the polish to level out without using the brush. Illamasqua Nomad is much darker, greener. China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint is greener. Zoya Wednesday is darker. MAC Mischievous Mint is very similar.

Everything That Glitters was the best performing shade, because it was opaque after two coats, and the consistently wasn’t too thick or thin, so it applied evenly. Endless Night is a little sheer, and with this kind of color, some might prefer it that way. Girl Trouble will drag if you move too quickly on a second coat, and it didn’t apply as evenly as I’d like. In the Limelight was a nightmare to apply, and in order to get even results, it took over an hour before I could really move my hands, and even then, I took a smudged off a chunk of it just by lightly brushing another finger against it. It doesn’t level well, so be very, very careful when you apply your second coat.

MAC first launched this formula this past March, which I reviewed here and here. You can also read a more in-depth review regarding the new shades here (this post just has a recap and some tidbits regarding these four shades). The formula feels like a cross between MAC’s regular powder eyeshadows and their Mineralize Eyeshadow formula, because it feels like a powder, but it’s a little dry in a way that’s characteristic of Mineralize Eyeshadows. These bind and adhere better, though, and tend to apply more smoothly. Of these four, Stylishly Merry was less smooth compared to the others, but Round Midnight was extremely smooth. In my testing of five of the eight shades, they wear the six hours MAC claims, but when used dry, they are prone to fading somewhat. When used damp or over a primer, I was able to wear these for eight hours without fading.

Round Midnight is a purple-burgundy with a soft frosted finish. It had excellent pigmentation both dry and wet. It was also exceptionally smooth compared to several of the other shades. MAC Rich Core is a bit lighter, less purple. MAC Deceit is very similar. Make Up For Ever #311 is redder.

Stolen Moment is a plummy taupe with hints of brown and gray and a frosted finish. It had pretty good color payoff when used dry and was totally opaque when used wet. Urban Decay Armor is less plum. MAC Satin Taupe is similar, a little browner. theBalm Come-Hither is darker, grayer.

Tall, Dark, & Handsome is a soft gray-black with a soft, frosted finish. It has multi-colored shimmer that’s very fine, so it’s hard to see it on the eye. The color payoff was almost the same both wet and dry, though when used dry, it’s just a little softer. MAC Dark Dare is darker, blacker, less gray. MAC Cinderefella is similar when used dry. Buxom Black Lab is similar but in cream form.

Deliciously Demure is a medium brown with just a hint of rosy pink in it along with multi-colored shimmer–the shimmer is very fine. It adds mostly shimmer to my lips, but it does darken and enhance the natural color and the overall effect is mostly opaque coverage. This shade lasted three hours on me. It is extremely similar to Bobbi Brown Bronzed Heather, actually. Revlon Rosegold is warmer, more coral. MAC Blessedly Rich is darker, more orange. MAC Social Light is also similar. MAC Explicit is cooler-toned, less shimmery.

Flight of Fancy is a berry-purple with purple and silver shimmer and sparkle. The color coverage is semi-opaque–it adds a healthy dosage of color, but it has a stained look, because it’s not opaque. It did not apply evenly for me, and it settled into lip lines quite noticeably. This shade lasted four and a half hours on me. MAC Dark as Night is much darker. MAC Richly Revered doesn’t have shimmer and is slightly sheerer. Tom Ford Wet Violet is more purple. MAC Lasting Achievement is a smidgen darker, less purple. MAC Lap of Luxury is more subdued.

Impossibly Sweet is a clear gloss overloaded with multi-colored sparkle. It is really just sparkle-city! I don’t see even a hint of pink in the base color; it really looks clear to me–at a stretch, maybe yellowed? It wore for four hours on me, and there were a few stray sparkles outside of my lips. While not in the tube, Bobbi Brown Pastel is somewhat similar on. It looks like any number of sheer glosses, you just have to pick one with an abundance of shimmer. I really like super sparkly glosses, and this has a beautiful reflective effect and is more stunning in person.

Pink Fade is a light-medium pink with a hint of gray cast. It has a cream finish, which results in settling into lip lines and a somewhat uneven application. Between the color and formula, if you press your lips together, you’ll see distinctive lines. This shade wore for four hours. MAC Long Love Love is cooler-toned. MAC Snob is darker, bluer-based. MAC Angel is a bit darker and warmer. MAC Enchantee is similar. MAC Infinitely Likeable is darker.

Pink Fade was the least impressive out of the group, because it settled into lip lines and was difficult to apply evenly and keep it looking that way, as the moment your lips touched, you’d see a line left behind. Talk Softly to Me had similar problems but to a lesser degree. Flight of Fancy did not apply evenly, and with such a dark color, unevenness can be noticeable. Deliciously Demure was the best performing, followed by Impossibly Sweet, which did have some sparkle that traveled during wear.

MAC Lipglasses are vanilla-scented, but I found all five to be lacking the typical strength of vanilla–Talk Softly to Me actually almost smelled like plastic to me. They are a thicker gloss and are sticky. On the whole, they tend to wear a little longer than the average gloss due to the tackiness.

These were an odd bunch of Fluidlines. I don’t like them as Fluidlines at all; I don’t think they work well for lining–I tried using all three by applying them with MAC’s 208 brush (which is what I typically use for Fluidlines), and so little product gets dispersed. The line is uneven, and these were really, really creamy, so they tended to smudge easily while you were trying to line. All three looked significantly different when used as an eyeliner than how they appeared in the pot, and a lot of it is because they’re not very pigmented from the get-go. They’re buildable, and the Fluidline formula is very conducive to layering, but to get an opaque line, I had to re-line two to four times.

Ultimately, they felt more like Paint Pots in Fluidline clothing! They would work better as Paint Pots, too, because as a sheer wash of sparkly cream eyeshadow, they work. The Fluidline formula is great here: it’s creamy but stubbornly long-lasting, so it dries down in thirty seconds or so, and then it stays on for eight hours or longer. There is almost no fall out during the wear; I saw a couple stray sparkles but it was very, very minimal.

Catch My Eye is a gray-ish taupe with champagne sparkle. When layered heavily, it has a metallic finish and looks very taupe, but when used as an eyeliner, it looks almost mauve and is quite light and sheer. Sheered out, as kind of a base or wash of eyeshadow, it is more taupe but still mauve-y. The metallic finish is a lot less apparent unless it is layered.

Feminine Edge is a sparkly sheer medium pink with chunky sparkle. This one was the sheerest and most difficult shade to work with, because it was very sparkly and gritty. It doesn’t really show up as pink unless you use several layers of product, as it shows up as a sheer, warm-ish pink tinge as an eyeliner and mostly just sparkles.

Little Black Bow is a soft brown-black with sparkle. When it is layered heavily, you’ll see the brown tones come out, but when it is sheered out as a wash, it looks more like a soft black with mere brown tones. As an eyeliner, it looks like a faded almost taupe-like brown.

As Fluidlines, they’re disappointing, because while you can always use a Fluidline as an eyeshadow base or cream eyeshadow, that’s not really its primary purpose. These don’t line well; they’re the kind of product that is better layered over your favorite eyeliner, because then these can add sparkle but you wouldn’t have to rely on it for providing color, too. As more of a wash of sparkly eyeshadow, they’re better, and they are buildable to fairly opaque coverage, but it will take some layering.

For a particular type of use and for the right person, I could see some of these shades being must-haves, but for someone who’s looking for Blacktrack with sparkle, you won’t find that kind of payoff here. They were more reminiscent of last year’s Glitter & Ice Paint Pots than the Fluidline range.

I reviewed Whisper of Gilt when it originally launched earlier this year in March. For a more in-depth review, I’d encourage you to read this post. I wanted to roll out improved photos, since I know this is a rather anticipated repromote. All of the photos and swatches are of the most recently released version (that came out with Glamour Daze), which is exactly the same as the originally released version. I also re-tested this shade for wear, and it wore for eight hours with some visible light fading along the edges.

I reviewed Superb when it originally launched earlier this year in March. For a more in-depth review, I’d encourage you to read this post. I wanted to roll out improved photos, since I know this is a rather anticipated repromote. All of the photos and swatches are of the most recently released version (that came out with Glamour Daze), which is exactly the same as the originally released version. I re-tested the wear, and it lasted around eight hours with some minor fading along the edges (same as when I tested it before).

If you want to tone down the finish, I suggest using a stippling brush (like MAC’s 188) and lightly dusting it over the areas you want to highlight. There’s enough color that it can be used as a blusher or bronzer (depending on your skin tone), but you’ll definitely get a greater sheen that way. If you want a really metallic look, try applying it with a damp brush.